The inaugural summit between the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and China, not too long ago held within the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, went past underscoring Asia’s rising geoeconomic prominence – it additionally served to place the continent as a catalyst for a cultural renaissance.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim of Malaysia, the present Asean chair, has lengthy maintained the precept of neutrality as important to sustaining the bloc’s centrality. One key strategy to securing the area’s stability and prosperity, he has said, is thru increasing and diversifying Asean’s partnerships. In keeping with this imaginative and prescient, Malaysia hosted the Asean-GCC-China Summit alongside the 46th Asean Summit.
To make certain, Asean has strong relationships with each the Gulf states and China. In 2023, the primary GCC-Asean Summit was held within the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the place either side agreed to strengthen their ties by financial collaboration within the digital economic system, renewable power and meals safety.
Like Asean, the Gulf states are actively diversifying their partnerships, pursuing stronger engagement with the European Union, African Union, India and China. In 2022, the inaugural GCC-China Summit additionally passed off in Riyadh, emphasising shared targets in financial diversification, know-how and world governance.
In the meantime, the China-Asean financial integration continues to deepen. Either side not too long ago wrapped up negotiations to upgrade their 15-year-old free-trade settlement, marking one other milestone of their rising partnership.
The Asean-GCC-China Summit seeks to raise these strong bilateral financial relationships inside a multilateral framework. In bringing collectively three of the world’s most dynamic financial areas, the summit guarantees to unlock new synergies and drive continent-wide progress.
